Welcome reader to my blog - a mixture of this and that. Now that we are living in a retirement community in downtown Columbia, MD my personal gardening activities are somewhat curtailed. I still enjoy visiting gardens, reading, watching wildlife on my walks, traveling, and occasional food commentary. Please leave a comment if you feel inspired to do so. I read every one of them.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Cotswolds Walking Tour - Day 1

This is the first of seven posts on our walking tour through the English countryside of the Cotswolds. We took a self-guided tour arranged by English Lakeland Ramblers which meant they provided the B & B accommodations, the transport of our luggage and detailed instructions and maps. It went amazingly smoothly.

Day 1: Moreton-in-the-Marsh to Stow-on-the-Wold: 7 miles.
Walk Description: "Cross the high wolds to Stow-on-the-Wold, complete with village stocks and picturesque square via the fantastic Mogul manor house at Sezincote and a number of pretty hamlets." (Sezincote was closed the day we walked so we didn't see it. Plenty of other things to see.)

Lots of clouds but no rain in forecast.

We set out from Moreton-in-Marsh.

Sign most appropriate as we make our first turn.

We had gotten lost twice before we came to this first village of Longborough. Here's one of many WWI monuments we will see.

And here's the parish church. It's open and we stop by to visit. We make a point of visiting all of these. This one had a restroom for us to use.

Donnington Manor. The footpath right of way went right in front of this house. These ancient pathways crisscross England and in the Cotswolds are well marked. We learned to look for the circle marks on the stiles, kissing gates, and fences.

In Broadwell another manor with the lovely gold stone of the Cotswolds.

Lunch! Our first pub.

The parish church at Broadwell.

Almost to Stow-on-the-Wold. Stopped at the water source for the town, used until the late 19th century.

3 comments:

well done on the navigating. there are so many pathways criss crossing the countryside that it is not always that easy to follow the signs. I have never seen a defibrillator in a phone box before but what a great idea.